Wednesday, April 15, 2009

It's not yet posted on Lulu.com, but Calithena has just announced thatFight On!won the March author contest. That's a rather impressive accomplishment and a testament to the strength and size of the old school community. I also think it's an indication -- one of several I could point to -- that there's something in the air these days. Despite all the naysayers and critics who would have you believe the old school renaissance is just about cranky middle aged guys pining for their lost youths, this movement seems to have managed to reach beyond its little niche and attract the attention of people who weren't even alive during the Golden Age of Gaming. That's an amazing and encouraging thing.

Congratulations to Calithena and Ignatius Ümlaut for this well-earned victory. Onward and upward!

42 comments:

I don't know the exact ranking yet, but Swords & Wizardry / Knockspell Magazine placed within the top ten in this contest also. (and we intend to take first place in the just-announced May competition :) )

"this movement seems to have managed to reach beyond its little niche and attract the attention of people who weren't even alive during the Golden Age of Gaming"

True indeed! I was born in 1981 and gaming since 1995. I'm fascinated with the ideas on oldschool sites and plan to run an OD&D campaign if I'll have the time and players! At the moment, I'm running a campaign in Melan's Fomalhaut using his "Kard és Mágia" (Sword and Sorcery in Hungarian) ruleset.

The old school renaissance exists because of three factors- the first is that Gary's death called up tons of nostalgia. That combined with very good word of mouth and blog based marketing set off the explosion. The third is WotC's complete and utter failure to market 4e correctly.

I don't think the OSR explosion would have happened if WotC had been on their toes. In my opinion 4e (while it may or may not be true D&D) is a pretty good system that is hamstrung by marketing incompetence.

I cite 2 exhibits- A: 3e was a super successful game largely because it mined nostalgia as the engine of its marketing campaign. B: The marketing of Pathfinder is a jet fighter compared to WotCs crop duster. Better art, better exposure, better community involvement than 4e.

While I probably won't be using the Pathfinder system WotC seriously needs to fear August 13, 2009.

You are right. I was born in 80 and I've been gaming since I was 8. I got really into 3rd edition, and while I like 4e, it's rules are so codified and solid that there is little room for improv and storytelling. Its a solid combat ruleset that is fun to play with, but it lacks that sense of exploration and the unknown that an old school dungeon crawl can do. Your site inspired me to whip up some very narrative and loose rules for a dungeon crawl that I plan on running in the next few weeks.

I think people are now realizing that if they want codified rulesets that are balanced etc etc they can just play video games. Tabletop gaming's strength is the collaborative storytelling that can only happen with a group of people with overactive imaginations sitting around a table and winging it.

@James - or a testament that all 137 of us have very good jobs, deep pockets or second mortgages. (I'm teasing. It's awesome news. But I think our pockets are indeed a bit lighter these days because of the contest.)

@Scott - you say that like it's a bad thing? ;)Nah, not at all. But the Spontaneous Groundswell of Support was certainly aided by shameless and vigorous flogging of not only the regular offerings, but products that seemed to exist solely for the purpose of winning the contest.

I think the win may indicate that there's more than the core 137 "old schoolers," but it's also a testament to the willingness of the 137 to buy things for the cause.

Again, not necessarily a bad thing. It's cool that there are obviously committed customers out there who'll buy whatever. But there was a *lot* of "we slapped this thing together, buy it so we can win" going on.

Nothing wrong with some shameless advertising! Attracting "mainstream" attention can only be good - after all, the non-mainstream will always be there no matter what happens. Its not like they can come in and shut down the blogs and other old school community!

"But there was a *lot* of 'we slapped this thing together, buy it so we can win' going on."

You mean people who make books and magazines want to promote them? :)No, I mean people who make books and magazines churned out extra books and magazines that wouldn't have otherwise existed, then begged people to buy them so they could get extra ticks to win a contest.

But hey, apparently it worked.

And it's entirely possible that the jump in the rankings was due to the publicity campaign bringing in new customers for Fight On!, rather than getting forum denizens and bloggers to buy old issues repackaged, or "Art of the Old School Renaissance," or a campaign journal.

Again, I see nothing wrong with this either way. But it's premature to conclude that Fight On! winning is a sign of broad-based or even increasing support for old school gaming. It could just as easily be a sign of commitment by old schoolers to support the community by buying whatever their peers put out. That's a laudable goal to have achieved in and of itself, but I think that boat docked in the harbor some time ago.

Scott, if you're unhappy with your copy of "Art of the Old School Renaissance," I will buy your copy. I gave mine to one of the contributing artists who missed the time window, and I'd like to have one.

And I happen to know that there are at least a few people "who weren't even alive in the Golden Age of Gaming" buying Fight On! and Swords & Wizardry last month. And if my plans go well, pretty soon we'll have a few more.

I am one of those people not even alive in the golden age of gaming. I was born in 1980 and started gaming in 1991 with the AD&D second edition ruleset. However, our group got started when my friend's older brother bought a collection of D&D stuff from another kid in town which included quite a few original D&D adventures, so I cut my teeth on some old school locales even if my character was 2d edition. I mostly create my own material for my campaigns, but I stumbled upon this blog recenty and have become quite excited by all the old-school stuff brewing on the interwebs. I am going to check out Fight On! and Swords & Wizardry, and may soon become another subscriber from a younger generation.

Scott, if you're unhappy with your copy of "Art of the Old School Renaissance," I will buy your copy. I gave mine to one of the contributing artists who missed the time window, and I'd like to have one.Man, I am seriously not unhappy with anyone about anything. I have no dog in the fight, and I'll just bow out now, as I've clearly come across as saying "y'all suck" when what I meant was "y'all rock, but possibly not at the order of widespread rocking magnitude one might surmise at first blush." :)

The last minute push and products meant to swell the last minute push - big deal. The fact is that before the push, FO was already in the top 3. As far as this attracting untoward attention from legions of lawyers from a particular large corporation - no way. Paranoia.

I'm interested to see haow the winnings are re-invested into the project. Erol Otis On!

The Swords & Wizardry / Knockspell money (the "profits," since we didn't actually win an award) is going into a t-shirt purchase so that we can do giveaways to people attending cons and events. And if people buy them, they'll cost about half what they would at cafepress since we ordered in bulk. I'm a strong believer that old schoolers attending cons and events should get free crap tailored to their interests, just like the newer-schoolers get free crap tailored to theirs. It's part of the convention experience. :)

Having just finished reading Knockspell #1, I can safely say that Fight On! is going to have some serious (albeit friendly) competition on its hands. This is a good thing as it will likely lead to a continued increase in quality for both of these already great publications.

Wanted to add myself to the tally of people following the Old School Renaissance who weren't alive during the Golden Age - I was born in '85 and only discovered that there was still a community devoted to older editions of D&D a few months ago.

I think the explanation for the continued popularity of old school gaming is pretty simple:

A lot of those old games, Marvel FASERIP and AD&D are *really* freaking good.

The reasons they were pulled from active syndication had nothing to do with time passing them by.

Those games were pulled for other reasons, such as licensing (in the case of FASERIP) or because the company made a business decision that a new edition every 10 years did more for its bottom line than continuing to support the old model.

So, like classic cars classic music and retro clothes, you have some people who think the old stuff is still really good.

How long before it's less about fun and more about units sold?I don't think there's much danger of that here. Calithena can speak for himself, but the odds of Fight On!'s becoming the basis for a hugely profitable business are slim to none. This is still a labor of love and will likely remain so. I don't think there's anything the least bit sordid about taking pleasure in having won the contest.

I admit I pulled out all the stops to win the contest. I think that benefits all of us to some degree though. For example, Matt may have just missed the top three (I think he's in fourth), but there are a heck of a lot of people who know about Knockspell who didn't before because of our shared promotion of Art of the Old School - my network benefitted both of us just like his product idea did. Also, in general we serve notice that we're a vibrant niche of the hobby. I think that's great.

Anyway, what's done is done and now I need to lay out #5. We're back to the usual around here!

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